A former Pakistani diplomat has told the BBC that the US was planning
military action against Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban even before last
week's attacks.

Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior
American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan
would go ahead by the middle of October.

Russian troops were on
standby

Mr Naik said US officials told him of the plan at a
UN-sponsored international contact group on Afghanistan which took place
in Berlin.

Mr Naik told the BBC that at the meeting the US representatives told
him that unless Bin Laden was handed over swiftly America would take
military action to kill or capture both Bin Laden and the Taleban leader,
Mullah Omar.

The wider objective, according to Mr Naik, would be to topple the
Taleban regime and install a transitional government of moderate Afghans
in its place - possibly under the leadership of the former Afghan King
Zahir Shah.

Mr Naik was told that Washington would launch its operation from bases
in Tajikistan, where American advisers were already in place.

Bin Laden would have been "killed or
captured"

He was told that Uzbekistan would also participate
in the operation and that 17,000 Russian troops were on standby.

Mr Naik was told that if the military action went ahead it would take
place before the snows started falling in Afghanistan, by the middle of
October at the latest.

He said that he was in no doubt that after the World Trade Center
bombings this pre-existing US plan had been built upon and would be
implemented within two or three weeks.

And he said it was doubtful that Washington would drop its plan even if
Bin Laden were to be surrendered immediately by the Taleban.